Austria on the way to the World Cup: Victory against San Marino challenged!

Austria on the way to the World Cup: Victory against San Marino challenged!

Rimini, Italien - The Austrian fan club of Oed/Zeillern celebrated in Rimini, Italy, while the national team plays in the World Cup qualification game against San Marino. The game takes place in the Stadio Olimpico in Serravalle, just 15 minutes by car from Rimini. Around 1,500 Austrian fans are on site and enjoy the pleasant weather with 30 degrees and blue sky. After experiencing the Italian “Dolce Vita” between the games in Romania and San Marino, the anticipation is great. Some fans arrived in San Marino immediately after the game against Romania, where the mood is already splendid.

San Marino's defender Alberto Riccardi is optimistic about meeting Austria. The team under the direction of Ralf Rangnick has made a firm job of creating a convincing appearance. Rangnick emphasizes how important it is to take the positive impressions from the game against Romania, which took place on June 7th, to take the game against San Marino. He refers to the risk of not using these opportunities, especially after analyzing the previous qualification games San Marinos.

team preparation and personal claims

In the training camp in Seefeld, intensive work was worked on on the exploitation of opportunities. However, Rangnick has to do without the central defenders Gernot Trauner and Kevin Danso, which are due to injury. The Austrian team wants to perform aggressively and concentrated against San Marino, while Marcel Sabitzer expects full throttle football and a clear result from his team. The team boss emphasizes that victory against Romania is less worth if the team cannot also win against San Marino. This is of crucial importance, since Austria wants to take part in a World Cup finals again after a long time.

The last time Austria was represented at a World Cup finals in 1998, and the goal for 2026 is a return after over 25 years. In the current World Cup qualification, Austria is entitled to become group winners in order to qualify directly for the tournament. The team plays in Group H, together with Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus and San Marino. The current score in the group shows that Bosnia-Herzegovina runs with 9 points, while Austria, Romania and Cyprus have 3 points and San Marino is still without points.

listing and competition

The urgency of the Situation is reinforced by the fact that Austria is fighting not having to go to the playoffs if you take second place. Players such as Arnautović, Laimer and Sabitzer take responsibility, while newcomers such as Nikolas are in the squad. David Alaba is still missing, but there is hope that he could return in 2025 after his injury.

On September 6, the Austrians meet Cyprus, followed by an important game against Bosnia-Herzegovina on September 9th. In the upcoming encounters, Austria hopes for a strong performance to dominate the group and to realize the dream of the next World Cup participation. Ralf Rangnick shows a positive development with the team and expects his players a significant improvement in their performance to score many goals against San Marino, as this could be decisive in qualification.

In the last encounters, the ÖFB team already performed advanced performance, including an impressive 5-1 win against Norway in the Nations League. This trend should continue in the current World Cup qualification. The expectations and demands are high and the fans support the team as much as possible. Today in San Marino it is important to take the first step towards the 2026 World Cup.